urgent blasto help

[Afish4u]

Ok long story short my tank has been abandoned the last 4 weeks. My Rare 2 mouth blue austrailian blasto looks like crap. It was doing so well and now I'm actually seeing skeletal. I know not alot of people have blastos but I was wondering what I could try to do to help inect into this guy to save (if possible) him. I have almost lost him before but not to this stage before(and considering how fragile this sucker is to begin with). I tried mysis tonight, rotifers, artic, and a few other things to try to help boost. I'm wondering if Jason might have any ideas or others. FYI Jason the blasto that I fragged from you I thought I lost it all before. we the one died but there were 2 babies next to it. They don't seem to bad right now.

[hansmatt]

did it get moved? more flow than normal? I'd assume your water parameters are fine, just a dirty tank? I've got a few things that are certainly more sensitive to temp changes than others, but given our weather that seems unlikely. Maybe do an iodine dip?

[crvz]

Indeed, describe it's placement (lighting, flow, nearby corals, etc.) and any recent changes to the tank. That should help in giving pointers.

[Afish4u]

no real change in temp (currently 77) I haven't moved this coral in at least 8 months or more. Its about 6" from the top on the frag station on the right hand side of my tank. I might be interested in the idoine dip matt you have a link to u could post. I would eventually get around to looking just not this minute.

[hansmatt]

I'd simply put 5-10 drops of iodine in 1-2 cups of tankwater, mix, and let the blasto sit for 10 minutes. You could gently blow the flesh with a baster too, to disloge any potential pests. Many of the polyps & lps need iodine, in addition to the fact that the iodine bath can help with any minor bacterial infection going on. Though it may not help if there are other things going on (water parameters/nitrates too high etc) it should not hurt the animal.

[tangmang23]

i had a similar experience with a red blasto i got not to long ago. I did an iodine dip and now its doing very well. I also placed it in a internal refugium deal so the flow wasn't beating it all to crap. This allowed me to spot feed with cyclopes and other chemical foods. The blasto is now doing very well. From my readings though, iodine dips can be very stressful if done incorrectly.

good luck

[YLChik]

I am always in favor pf placing stressed LPS in lower light.

[Jrmass]

Originally Posted by YLChik

I am always in favor pf placing stressed LPS in lower light.

That is exactly what I would do and have done in the past to save extremely stressed out blasto colonies... I have one colony that I've tried to get into direct light probably close to 10x now and it just does not want to be there... This would be a very good option for you Aaron. Place it under one of your rock formations in indirect light or shade it with something if you can. This will force the polyps to extend out a bit more to get the light that they may or may not be missing. I have also in the past done direct feedings of DT's to them. Although personally if you ask me it did not do as much for the coral as I was actually anticipating it would.

Jason

[Afish4u]

thanks for the input. The lower light howeve I know won't work because thats how I lost all of the others. the 2 mouth one is the one on the left side of this pic and let me tell you this pic doesn't do it justice at all to how it looked a month ago. All are gone but this one now. Iodine it is.

[ReefLuvR]

Hi Aaron,

I'm really sorry to hear about your troubles. Really. If I can help in any way, let me know. I hope the iodine dip does some wonders.

Jen

[Jrmass]

Originally Posted by Afish4u

thanks for the input. The lower light howeve I know won't work because thats how I lost all of the others. the 2 mouth one is the one on the left side of this pic and let me tell you this pic doesn't do it justice at all to how it looked a month ago. All are gone but this one now. Iodine it is.

Have you thought about emailing Kevin at F&S? I know he's typically busy... But, he usually will make time for odds and ends questions... And this is one that he would have a tie too as you actually got the coral from them.

Just an option.

Jas

[Afish4u]

hum good idea jason. Can someone pm me his address.

and thank you jen. I will need some help at some point.